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Roleplay Mechanics and How It Works
Basics If you are already familiar with text-based roleplay then you can skip this section. Obviously, it's still recommended that you don't. Style, Formatting and Punctuation Naturally, roleplay is expected to be gramatically presentable. Capitalized names, paragraphs, commas, et cetera. Exactly like the text you're reading right now. The basic guidelines for formatting are as follows: *Descriptions and everything 3rd person is plain text. *"Speech." is plain text with double quotes. *''Thoughts are full sentences in italics. Italics can also be used for emphasis as long as the context of usage is understandable. */Emphasis within italics/ is marked with slashes. *'Emphasis''' can also be expressed with bold text, depending on the context. *'Quotes' are plain text with single quotes. *(( OOC messages and links )) are plain text with double parentheses. Discord uses Markdown; you can see all formatting options and how to use them here. Note that you are not sternly required to follow them - this is only a general guideline. You are free to format your text according to your needs and write in any tense you prefer as long as you stick to it. Here's an example of those guidelines in use: : "CARL!! 'Where are you?!" Rick loudly shouted in fear. The word 'dead' couldn't stop popping into his head as he frantically stepped over each lifeless body, desperately looking at the face of every single one. ''Please be okay. /Please/... ''Suddenly he jumped: the prison speakers started playing another song... (( www.song.com/song.mp3 )) Discord also has some nice features like message editing. The default shortkey to edit last message is 'arrow up', or you could hover over any message and click on the icon that appears in the top right. You are not expected to fix every grammar mistake, but making your posts nice and readable is greatly appreciated and encouraged. You can also make paragraphs with shift+enter. As stated in the rules, all of your RP must be in third person. The length of your posts is unlimited, however the length of your messages is. Discord will not let you post anything larger than 2000 characters at once, but you can simply post 2 or more messages depending on your needs. There is no limitation for how many messages you can make for your post. Large posts are never unwelcome because putting more effort into your RP is its direct enrichment. Posting Dynamics The basic rule of thumb for text-based roleplay is to ''describe your character's actions until they affect another character. You are free to describe the scene, npcs and your character's actions as much as and however you want. It never hurts to build up atmosphere, describe the details, internals, etc. But your posts must always have something other characters can react to as it is necessary to move on. For example, doing this is '''wrong: : After a long day of dangerous traveling Andrea has finally returned to Alexandria. The new information she had was valuable and needed to be delivered to Rick immediately. To the guards' knowledge he was at home with Carl, so Andrea made that her first destination, arriving at the porch swiftly. And doing this is right: : After a long day of dangerous traveling Andrea has finally returned to Alexandria. The new information she had was valuable and needed to be delivered to Rick immediately. To the guards' knowledge he was at home with Carl, so Andrea made that her first destination, arriving at the porch swiftly. She rung the doorbell without hesitation. Now, Andrea might not need to ring the bell if the door is already open. Whether it's open or not depends on Rick's and Carl's roleplayers because obviously it's the door to the house they own. This kind of situation is handled by asking these players in the appropriate #meta channel. If a certain detail's state does not depend on you or you don't know it's current state, then ask the person it depends on before posting. Otherwise, it's yours to describe. ''Realistically though, most of the time you will assume, and it's okay to do so in regards to simple non-crucial things like the door. Sometimes your assumptions will be wrong, in which case you will have to edit your post. To avoid that, simply ask beforehand. Alternatively, you can add future actions and conditional actions if you aren't sure how a character is going to react. For example: : Rick reached his hand through the bars, allowing Negan's lips touch the edge of the glass. He would slowly tip it and let him drink at his own pace, assuming the former warlord won't bite the hand that feeds him. Sometimes there are situations where there's nothing else to do other than void a piece of your partner's post. It happens and its '''not forbidden. '''If anything it's generally not a bad thing because it implies doing something unexpected. For example: : Player 1: Rick reached his hand through the bars, allowing Negan's lips touch the edge of the glass. He would slowly tip it and let him drink at his own pace, assuming the former warlord won't bite the hand that feeds him. : Player 2: (( He would react sooner, sry. )) As soon as the glass passed the bars Negan scoffed, spitefully shaking his head, "I don't want your ''shit." He continued the motion, struggling against the handcuffs to turn himself around and face away. "Leave me the fuck alone." was the following grunt. If a scene requires 3 or more people to roleplay in it then the players will take turns. For example: Rick's post - Carl's - Michonne's - Rick's - Carl's - Michonne's and so on. If a character has nothing to add in their turn then their player can state so in the appropriate #meta channel to avoid repeating themselves in #rp. In general repetition is not fun to roleplay. There can be situations where one character does something different while the other can only react in one narrow kind of way. Usually it happens when one character is predominantly leading a scene, for example in a prisoner interrogation scenario. The only effective way around it is to communicate your actions with your partner, so don't be afraid to dicuss your way out of repetition in #meta. One of the most important ways to get out of mundane boring things and repetiton is to simply fast-forward (FF) past it, to a more interesting point in the future. However it's not as simple as it sounds. Before doing so, you must make sure that no other characters would have plot-impacting or development-significant interactions with your character during the time you want to skip. There is no universal rule for this - every situation is unique and the best way to go about it is to discuss it with your partners. Note that FF-ing requires proper Tagging (explained below). Starting Story The Universe Starting Story -May 25th 2017 years after outbreak Players will be assigned to small groups of about 2 - 4 players and begin role-play from there. They will be spread out across the state as the fight to survive continues whilst relationships formed will be tested. Time and Date The Walking Dead lore does not define any specific dates surrounding the outbreak. For that reason we have our own date, the outbreak begins on Wednesday, May 15th, 2013. The first signs of the outbreak started roughly around the end of February, progressing over the course of a couple of weeks into a full blown apocalypse in the 10s of March. Roleplay picks up four years after the outbreak in 2017. What happened to individual characters from the start of the outbreak to the current starting date is up to their players.'' Keep in mind that letting your characters know something from the future is considered metagaming. '' Locations, Travel and Danger This is a map of the playable world in relation to the communities https://discordapp.com/channels/348281963674730496/348286732225216522 You aren't required to follow every smallest detail, but you are supposed to have a general understanding of the world's layout and adjust your RP accordingly. Keep that in mind when describing travel and the time it takes to reach places. If you want to go super specific (which is VERY optional), you can look this map up on google and use the measuring tool to know exact distances. Sometimes you may need to do so in order to find out what a nearby town has to offer in terms of resources and what kind of places it has. Also keep in mind the varying levels of danger around certain areas. Generally, cities and towns pose a greater threat as they are filled with walkers. The bigger the town, the bigger the danger, especially in cities like Atlanta. Reflect that in your roleplay. Group Mechanics Assignment Once any character is taken by a new player, they are randomly '''assigned to one of the groups and are required to come up with according logical backstory to explain their presence. You're free to do it however you want as long as it's realistic. If a taken character has another canonically tied to him character that nobody plays then the lack of their presence must be explained too (e.g. If somebody takes Daryl but nobody takes Merle). All of this is discussed in the appropriate group's #meta channel. The only exception to this rule is dependent characters - Clementine, Carl, Duck and so on. Players of those characters have a choice to be automatically assigned to the group that their 'protector' is in. For example, Carl can be auto assigned to the group because Rick is there. This exception is subject to change in the future. Channel Use Currently there are multiple dedicated roleplay channels -'''. This separation is done to avoid mixing of secluded scenes during live roleplay. For example, if 2 people are playing a scene (read: posting messages in a channel) in Prescott and 2 different people are playing a completely unrelated scene at the Saviors at the same time, there is no need for their messages to intertwine because neither of these scenes affect each other. It's confusing to read and it serves no purpose. For that reason people can play those scenes cleanly at the same time in 2 separate channels without causing interference. The rules of separation are as follows (take them very literally): *'#Richmond'-group-rp if your scene is directly unrelated to the main Richmond's activities. *'#Prescott'-group-rp if your scene is directly unrelated to main Prescott group's activities. *world-rp1 if your scene is either not related to both groups or none. *world-rp2 if #world-rp1 is currently in use and your scene has no relation to the one happening there. There are no precise boundaries for how related scenes have to be to be put to according channels. The decisions are made at the roleplayer's discretion - just do what's most convenient for you and readable for others. You have the tools, and if that's not enough more channels can be added if such need arises. Note that moving scenes requires proper Tagging '''(explained below). Tagging Name tags Once your character is a assigned to a group, they're 100% yours. For easy identification on Discord you are required to wear their name as a tag. They look like this: : Goma Everett Roleplay Tags To keep the roleplay process clean and comprehensible to others, you are required to use '''Time Tags. A typical time tag looks like this: : Wednesday, May 15th, 13:37 PM - Lee's stuffy Motor Inn room. ''' It's written in bold text with brackets and is given it's own paragraph. In which part of the post it has to appear depends on the post's timeline of events, but most of the time they'll be at the top. However, evidently, time tags aren't only to declare time, but to also set a location and maybe add a little detail or two. You must always tag the beginning of a scene to set it up. You must always tag what time you fast-forwarded your scene to. If you paused your scene, you must also tag it when you resume. You don't need to make any tags for when your scenes end. This is done for the sake of coordination. Since the roleplay is live, people will need to know the where and when in order to interact with you. If your platform supports Ctrl + F, you can easily find and jump to time tags by searching for % (hence it's a part of the tag). If you need to move your scene from one channel to another then you must put a '''Moving Tag '''at the end of last post in the channel you are moving '''from. It looks like this: : (( Moving to #world-rp2 )) In the channel you are moving to you must post a time tag with a moving tag. It would look like this: : 'Wednesday, May 15th, 13:37 PM - Lee's stuffy Motor Inn room.--(( Moved from #world-rp1 )) ' That's how you move scenes between channels. To find such tags with Ctrl + F simply search for #. If two scenes are merging, simply state both channels in one tag instead of making multiple tags. Like this: : 'Wednesday, May 15th, 13:37 PM - Lee's stuffy Motor Inn room.--(( Merged from #inn-group-rp and #farm-group-rp )) ' Now, to avoid confusion, let's sum it up: *Time Tag when starting a scene. *Time Tag when resuming a scene. *Time Tag when fast-forwarding or describing 30+ minutes in one post. *Moving Tag in the channel you are moving from. *Time Tag + Moving Tag in the channel you are moving to. Dungeon Master / Shadowman Most zombie interactions and environments are described entirely by players, including the exact actions of zombies and even hordes, meaning that most of the time the amount of danger is directly in your hands. To make it interesting and intriguing, players have an option to summon a shadowman - a person dedicated to specifically control the walkers and the players' immediate environment. Simply ask the person with the appropriate [ ] nametag. Another reason why this is made is because we aren't an RPG after all - going out scavenging alone is equivalent to writing a lonely fanfic. Going out scavenging alone but with a roleplay partner on the other hand is fun, even if the partner controls dead people instead of the living. But do keep in mind that danger is death's best buddy. Communities and Hubs This section applies to all characters that reside in; -Richmond -The Saviors -Prescott The above settlements now constitute towards a different roleplay mindset and approach. It is now encouraged that you have your characters explore the communities and meet other characters, there are no limitations on what you may do. The beauty of being in a community is that all characters are not in one place like they used to be out on the road, which means you do not have to wait on others to start your own scenes. Much less meta co ordination and planning should be utilised now, you do not need to ask if it is ok to hop into a scene via the #meta, if people put their characters into an area or position where other players would most likely be it is safe to assume they are looking for an interaction, make it unique and surprising. Although if you pick up that they have put their characters into a private/discreet situation, it would be more appropriate to ask before hopping in first. It is expected that each rper would know how to 'read the room' before hopping in. DO NOT rely on other roleplayers to be creative for you in starting scenes or creating scenarios, be the person that takes the first step in posting something, not the person that waits for another to do it for you. Mod's are always there for guidance and assistance, however scenarios and scenes being planned are up to the roleplayers. Part of this experience is planning less and just going with the flow, seeing where interactions take you in the story and how it develops. If you think its time for community to meet another community or expand the social network of people your character knows don't be afraid to make it happen. Reiterating off of previous points, do not be afraid to create drama and conflict within the RP, if another character does something you know would make your character angry, react accordingly, a common mistake in the roleplaying world is being too passive with your character in order to get the best outcome for them, which is not encouraged and can be very dull for a roleplay, especially one as tense as The Walking Dead. Some of the most memorable and 'eye popping' moments of roleplay have come from scenarios where people have not been afraid to take their characters to extreme and tense levels. In regards to music links, if you want to add music to your posts, submit the youtube link in (( )) to acknowledge it is an out of character text.